Under Cooked by price cuts

Profits at Thomas Cook’s tour operator arm slumped more than a third last year after it was forced into a record wave of price cuts.

Shares in the industry giant tumbled by a fifth yesterday as it suspended its full-year dividend and revealed £30million of one-off costs.

The industry giant dropped the price of one in five late deals last summer as many families delayed booking breaks because of the heatwave.

Boss Peter Fankhauser said the firm was responding by “trimming” the number of breaks available for UK customers next summer “to see where the market is going”. Thomas Cook’s tour operator profits slumped £88m to £161m in the year to September 30, but they rose in its airline arm, despite disruption.